Why, Oh Why, Did I D/l This Many?

So, I got to the point where I was ready to really dive in, without holding anyone's hand, and create my first layout, possibly blending elements and papers from a few kits. I mean, this is what I do when I traditionally scrapbook and wander around the store looking for paper, right?

No. I found I was having trouble going through my various folders on my desktop and looking for things that matched well. To date, I have about a half-dozen kits that I've bought, and then a ton of freebies, and I couldn't sort through them all.

So this past weekend, I decided to get serious, create a new library, import all my elements into iPhoto, and tag them all by website, designer, element type, color, style, and theme. Oy. I've been working on this for about 1-2 hours per day since Friday, and I'd say I'm only a third of the way through. Will it ever end? I almost feel like pitching the un-cataloged ones and working with what I have... but I know that would be stupid and I wouldn't be satisfied with the limited choice eventually.

One cool thing that I just learned (after almost a week) about iPhoto: when tagging something you don't have to close the keywords box everytime and then read command-I when you select a new element. You can just finish with the first one, click another one back in the album, and the keywords box will create a blank list of checkboxes to work with for the new element without losing the info you just entered for the prior one.

Oh I love separating my new supplies - like digging through a box of chocolate, you never know what treats you will find!

I use Ro's method of oraganizing my supplies and find it lets me mix and match the collections quite easily. Here is the link to her tutorial in the university about the subject: managing digital supplies.

You'll be glad you did it this way though. I have been using the Organizer in PSE 5 to do something similar. I have everything grouped into Collections by Kit and then I also have tags set up for all of the different types of products. It makes it SO easy to work with just one kit, or if I'm looking for something particular, I can find it through the tags. It also took me a few days to get it all set up, but it was TOTALLY worth it!

Mwahaha - only half a dozen files!!! Sorry, but I have a wicked side. Try waiting until you've been downloading on a daily basis for six months before you start organizing.

Took me working on it several hours a day for well over a month. I've finally got everything in it's neat little folder all nicely organized via ACDSee, but I still haven't even started the key wording/categorizing part yet. I know that part will probably take me months more.

Oh, and then add in the 100,000s of fonts that I had to wade through to decide which ones to keep and which ones to delete.

I am so hoping that once I reach the far-off end of the rainbow road, that keeping it up to date will be a breeze along with finding stuff.

But it's really good that you're getting it organized early on. Just be sure you back up everything once you're done so you don't ever have to do it all over again.

It is definitely a challenge to keep the materials organized but it is WELL worth the effort it takes. MichaelsMomJo has a great tip, too, about keeping the explorer pane open while moving things around. It made a world of difference to me.

Yes, I love iPhoto for this; my categories are evolving all the time, but it's no big deal. The themes, I know, will be expanding as I continue this. I've been importing by kit as a new "film roll," so that's one less category I have to make up or folder I have to create. My lists are a little different than the examples mentioned above (Ro combines a lot of things I keep separate, for instance), but I'm really enjoying it. Plus, I realize that I can search by combinations of keywords. For example, if there's a background paper that's kind of orange and kind of yellow, I mark it both, and then I'll know to search with both keywords required when I'm looking for a similar color.

I know it's going to be worth it when I'm done. I kept thinking, when I got into this, that I should start organizing early on, but I never found a system I liked until someone mentioned iPhoto. The Adobe organizer that some people mentioned didn't seem to come with my bundle, but iPhoto came with my laptop and I'm very familiar with its skills and capabilities.

After this is all done, then I expect I should print out the sample sheets (for the kits and the fonts), and set up a binder, and then I'll be ready to roll. In the meantime, I resent how much time it's taking me to do the full job, and how little scrapbooking I'm getting done. I told my DH and he said, "Why don't you take a break and do a page to relieve your frustration and then dive in again?" He doesn't understand. Going back to scrapbooking is my reward for getting it all done... and it's not done yet. He thinks I'm wacky... but at least he still lvoes me.

So let this be a lesson to the newbies - find an organization process NOW, before you get too involved and bogged down by kits, supplies, and freebies. Do it now!

Yuck. I know exactly what you mean, Deb. When I was organizing mine, too, I was like "WHAT have I gotten myself into?!" But, once you are done, it is a million times easier to find stuff...even though you have to do it all again whenever you get a new kit. I dread that part! But, on the pkus side, at least tagging a new kit gives you a chance to get a good luck at all the cool stuff that came in it!

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace." - Milan Kundera

Yep - I've been organizing and tagging and categorizing via ACDSee since the first of the year. Still not done, but it is really helping me scrap. Organization was my New Years resolution this year. I'm still at it!

~Pat~A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and will sing it back to you when you forget the words. -- Author: Unknown

I have started (I used to take kits apart and put in folder by type but I lost the ID info that way) to keep my kits together and use spotlight to find what I want. That may mean adding key words to the pieces but that only takes a few minutes. Some already have color, of type (frame, brad, etc,). Spotlight is a great tool that I think is not used often enough.

DrGranma

So, I got to the point where I was ready to really dive in, without holding anyone's hand, and create my first layout, possibly blending elements and papers from a few kits. I mean, this is what I do when I traditionally scrapbook and wander around the store looking for paper, right?

No. I found I was having trouble going through my various folders on my desktop and looking for things that matched well. To date, I have about a half-dozen kits that I've bought, and then a ton of freebies, and I couldn't sort through them all.

So this past weekend, I decided to get serious, create a new library, import all my elements into iPhoto, and tag them all by website, designer, element type, color, style, and theme. Oy. I've been working on this for about 1-2 hours per day since Friday, and I'd say I'm only a third of the way through. Will it ever end? I almost feel like pitching the un-cataloged ones and working with what I have... but I know that would be stupid and I wouldn't be satisfied with the limited choice eventually.

One cool thing that I just learned (after almost a week) about iPhoto: when tagging something you don't have to close the keywords box everytime and then read command-I when you select a new element. You can just finish with the first one, click another one back in the album, and the keywords box will create a blank list of checkboxes to work with for the new element without losing the info you just entered for the prior one.

I used to take kits apart and put in folder by type but I lost the ID info that way. I have started to keep my kits together and use spotlight to find what I want. That may mean adding key words to the pieces but that only takes a few minutes. Some already have color, or type (frame, brad, etc,). Spotlight is a great tool that I think is not used often enough.

DrGranma

So, I got to the point where I was ready to really dive in, without holding anyone's hand, and create my first layout, possibly blending elements and papers from a few kits. I mean, this is what I do when I traditionally scrapbook and wander around the store looking for paper, right?

No. I found I was having trouble going through my various folders on my desktop and looking for things that matched well. To date, I have about a half-dozen kits that I've bought, and then a ton of freebies, and I couldn't sort through them all.

So this past weekend, I decided to get serious, create a new library, import all my elements into iPhoto, and tag them all by website, designer, element type, color, style, and theme. Oy. I've been working on this for about 1-2 hours per day since Friday, and I'd say I'm only a third of the way through. Will it ever end? I almost feel like pitching the un-cataloged ones and working with what I have... but I know that would be stupid and I wouldn't be satisfied with the limited choice eventually.

One cool thing that I just learned (after almost a week) about iPhoto: when tagging something you don't have to close the keywords box everytime and then read command-I when you select a new element. You can just finish with the first one, click another one back in the album, and the keywords box will create a blank list of checkboxes to work with for the new element without losing the info you just entered for the prior one.

Okay, I really don't understand and don't know what to ask at this point - LOL.

I started organizing my kits by putting them in type folders (as Ro suggested) however other sites don't name their stuff as well and I spent all my time renaming items so I could give correct credit! Okay forget that - now I just leave them together as a kit and make folders inside the kit folder for the elements alphas and transparenscies. I leave the TOU in the folder that has the creators name in it so I can give credit. BUT I still find myself looking through all my folders for every kit from every site trying to find that button I saw yesterday that I want to use today. I've read a little about ACDSee (sp?) and I own Corel's product that came with my PSP that some people use (the name is totally escaping me right now) but I DO NOT want to have to rename things again. I would love something to go one step further from where I'm at now and be able to search for "buttons" for example.

Okay - what is keywords and how is that done?
What is shortcuts and how is that done?
How do I use the sofware (ACDSee or Corel Photo Album (that's it!!)) to organize items.

I can't help with the Corel software and don't know much about ACDSee, so you'll have to wait for someone wiser than I.

However, keywords: In iPhoto (which I use for organizing) and many other types of software, you can enter a keyword and search for things. You do this with Google or some other search engine all the time. However, in organizing software, you can assign many keywords to one item so it comes up in a variety of searchs. You could have this great green button that has a little bit of a weathered/grunge look to it, for example. So, you could assign the embellishment the key words "green," "button," and "grunge." You could also assign it the keywords related to the website you got it from, the kit it's in, and the designer.

As many people have sympathized with me above, you'll notice that assigning keywords is a slow, boring process, but so worth it when it's done. Don't get me wrong, I still open and close folders looking for the right color scheme. But sometimes I just want that green button, and the keywords help make that search easy.

Thanks very much, Debbie - that helped, I also re-read this thread and several others. I opened Corel Photo Album again and WOW there is a keyword button!! LOL. So I played around with that this morning and I think that's going to solve my issue!!